


Subterfuge

by digimaniac33



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Operation Regisurp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 15:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5632057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digimaniac33/pseuds/digimaniac33
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Terezi gains an unexpected partner as she carries out part of Operation Regisurp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Subterfuge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TwoClassyCats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoClassyCats/gifts).



> Terezi is using [this cane](http://cdn.mspaintadventures.com/storyfiles/hs2/02053.gif) on Derse.

Terezi stood over the alchemiter, impatiently tapping her cane. The bizarrely stiff machine had been working on her latest creation for far too long already, and she was just about ready to explode. _Come on, come on, come on..._

Finally her item appeared. Terezi grinned as a giant splash of red stabbed her straight in the nose. "Definitely the best color," she said as she picked up her new set of rocket wings. The harness fit her perfectly, and the control mechanism sat at her hip, just begging her to fly up into the sky.

 _I'll have to send Sollux my compliments, he really did an excellent job on this one,_ she thought as she double-checked all the straps were tightly secured. It wouldn't do to fly high into the air like her mom had always hoped to do, only to fall out and splatter across the ground below, after all. Once she was sure everything was prepared, she turned her nose upward, searching past the haze covering her planet for just a hint of a certain shade of purple.

Before she could tease out the color she was seeking, a mass of murky grey and highblood blue appeared out of nowhere. Startled, Terezi took a deeper whiff to better identify the interloper. The colors resolved into a blurry, metallic body with Aradia's hair and horns. "Oh. Hey, Aradia." Terezi had heard a little about Equius's schemes (mostly from Vriska's complaints), but she hadn't smelled their result in person before.

"Hello, Terezi," Aradia replied. Some floating objects she was carrying disappeared into her sylladex before Terezi could identify what they were. "I will be joining you on your mission to Derse."

Terezi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why would I be going to Derse? That's not part of Karkat's little plan." It really wasn't - Terezi's excursion would be all about planting evidence to get Jack Noir exiled, something Karkat would never approve of. She'd figure out why he was so attached to the weird stabby guy someday.

Aradia didn't blink, or smile, or really do anything in response to Terezi's words. "Correct, Karkat knows nothing about this mission. You're going to Derse as a factor of your own Operation Regisurp, and I will be accompanying you." She turned and began flying away. "Now that you have the ability to fly, we can begin."

Terezi frowned and called after her, "I don't remember agreeing to work with anyone on this!"

The old Aradia would have turned and laughed, daring her to keep up or lose out on what would certainly be their best adventure yet. This Aradia just flew on, as if it didn't matter what Terezi wanted. Scowling, she fired up her wings and pushed into the sky. She tried to enjoy her first flight, but the experience was soured by the smell of the metal creature she followed.

* * *

Aradia led Terezi through the Medium and the Furthest Ring, her course an unnervingly straight line between Terezi's planet and Derse. As they flew, Terezi begrudgingly admitted to herself that finding Derse on her own would have taken a lot longer. _This mission could turn out a lot better with someone else to help,_ she thought. Another thought sprung up before she could stop it. _And I've missed Aradia. Maybe we can finally be friends again._ Aradia had always said she didn't blame Terezi for what happened between her and Vriska, but Terezi could never let her guilt go. Sure, she'd gotten revenge on Vriska, but that hadn't changed anything. What Terezi really wanted was to just go back to how things used to be - except for her sight, of course. Finally connecting with her mom had been well worth all the pain she'd personally gone through, but it wasn't worth what had happened to Tavros and Aradia. Those things she would gladly change.

As they approached Derse, Terezi resolved to reconnect with Aradia again. _She might be living in a body made by that sweaty freak, but she's still Aradia,_ she thought, pushing away the doubtful thoughts that tried to convince her otherwise. "So!" Terezi said brightly as they touched down on the dark planet's surface. "What's your land like? Any exciting quests you've been on?"

Aradia walked on, heedless of Terezi's questions and the terrified Dersites she passed. They'd landed in a crowded marketplace, but Aradia moved as if she were on an empty plain. A few hapless citizens only avoided being mowed down at the last second, jumping out of the metallic girl's way.

Terezi quirked her mouth, displeased at being ignored. She jogged a bit to catch up with Aradia, traveling quickly in the wake of her chaos. "Is there a time limit I don't know about?" she quipped.

"No," Aradia replied. "I just don't see the need to waste our time talking about our lands. I know everything I need to know about yours, and you don't need to know anything about mine."

Terezi frowned. "Well cull me for being curious, then." They walked on in silence, Derse's skyscrapers hemming them in above.

* * *

_"Oooh! Terezi! Come look at this!"_

_Terezi turned her attention from the collapsed tunnel to a blinking layer of stone. "Oh? Did I miss something important?"_

_"Just come look!" Aradia's voice in her headset was bright and energetic, the kind of voice that was hard to ignore. Terezi gave the tunnel one last look before turning away. Aradia was a good FLARPing clouder, she wouldn't use cheap tricks to get an easy kill. Especially not against Terezi._

_As she approached the wall, the blinking lights focused down to one section. Once Aradia knew she was looking in the right spot, the lights faded away so she could actually see what she was supposed to be looking at. "Hm..." After some consideration, Terezi looked up and said, "What am I looking at here, anyway?"_

_Aradia laughed. "You aren't really looking at all, are you? It's a frieze depicting the first Heiress to fight Her Imperious Condescension! Their signs are hidden all over the piece, and you can see the royal weapons here and here." As Aradia spoke, bits of the wall flashed on and off, pointing out what she'd mentioned._

_Terezi gave the wall another look, noticing now the sweep of rock meant to be the Condesce's hair. "You didn't see this when you set everything up for the game?"_

_"Nope!" she said cheerfully. "You're taking so long with that puzzle, I got bored and started looking around. So thanks for being awful! Without your bad skills, I would've totally missed this."_

_Terezi laughed. "I was just shocked the puzzle was so easy to solve, I thought there had to be something I was missing. But you're welcome! I live to serve, after all!" She turned back to the tunnel, Aradia's laughter ringing in her ears._

* * *

Terezi craned her head around the corner of the alley she and Aradia were hiding in. She sniffed deeply, seeking all the information she could discern about the nondescript building just down the street. Her target was an office somewhere within - she knew it was close to the top thanks to some prior intel, but other than that she had no clue where to start.

"Hm..." she mused, tracking the movement of Dersites around the building. "It looks like nobody's going in or out right now. Might be too hard to go in through the front door." She focused upwards. "Maybe there's access on the roof?"

"Flying won't work. We'll attract too much attention," Aradia stated bluntly. She stood near the wall, unmoving staring at the opposite wall in a way even Terezi would describe as blankly. _Can't believe she's stealing my thing,_ Terezi thought, slightly bitter at the idea. Then, she rolled her eyes. _Yeah, that's the important thing here. Focus, Terezi!_

She turned her face to Aradia and waited a few moments to see if she would offer any actual ideas, but the other troll just stood there, quietly whirring. When it became obvious she'd have no part in making the plans, Terezi sighed and turned back to the street. After a few moments of thought, she pointed next to the building. "There. That looks like a back entrance to me."

Aradia moved beside her and nodded. "Yes, that looks right. Let's go." She set off down the street immediately, leaving Terezi in the dust again. She caught up as Aradia entered the alleyway she'd noticed earlier, a barely noticeable plum stain against Derse's usual grape landscape. Terezi slipped ahead of Aradia and headed straight for the door she'd expected to find. "Just as I thought! Despite their lack of a biological hierarchy, these Dersites obviously still prefer their citizens to use different doors." She tried the door, only to find it locked. "Hm..." She leaned down to get a better whiff, wondering if licking the surface would really tell her anything new. As she considered the door, she murmured, "How do they determine who uses which door, though?"

Aradia ignored her obvious bait. Instead, she nudged Terezi out of the way and placed her hands on either side of the door. With a quick motion, she crushed the door between her hands, then pulled it out and tossed it into the alley. "We're in."

Terezi frowned - she'd been looking forward to trying her hand at lockpicking - but she followed Aradia inside without complaint. Aradia's strategy worked, after all, even if it was a pretty boring plan. As they moved forward, she said idly, "I guess Equius made you a pretty strong body there. It must come in handy on your planet or wherever."

"I make it work," Aradia said in a steely tone. "I have no other choice, after all." For the first time, Terezi could finally hear an emotion in Aradia's voice - anger, a cold rage unlike anything she'd heard from Aradia before that eventful night.

Terezi quirked her mouth in confusion. "You're basically just possessing that thing, aren't you? Can't you just leave if you don't like it?"

Aradia's eyes flashed, filling Terezi's nose with bright, dangerous red for just an instant. "No," she almost growled. "I can't." Her hands flexed, as if searching for something to destroy, and Terezi realized that the Aradia in front of her had changed far more than she'd assumed.

The pair walked on in silence.

* * *

_"Hah!" Terezi stabbed her cane sword into the shadow dropper's neck. Using the split-second distraction to escape its grasp, she rolled across the floor toward a distinctive stone. She'd seen it hide something beneath that stone before one of its minions discovered her, and knowing Aradia, whatever was in there would be the only way to defeat it._

_She rolled to her feet in front of the rock just as the shadow dropper leaped next to her, its arm swiping at her head. She fell against the stone, wincing as the creature's claw sliced just behind her horns. Her gambit worked, though - the rock moved beneath her, revealing the shadow dropper's prized possession. She reached into the hole and snapped whatever was down there without bothering to look._

_The snap resonated through the chamber, followed shortly by the shadow dropper's scream. It melted into the floor, spreading out like a pool of liquid shadow before reforming into flapstractions and flying away. Terezi retrieved her cane, pleased to find it still in one piece. "I was certain you'd give that thing acid blood or something."_

_"There's no evidence shadow droppers have acidic properties," Aradia said primly. "It's much more interesting to keep to what we do know about them - making up random bits of biology to make them cooler or whatever is just lazy."_

_Terezi shook her head fondly, wincing as her head wound throbbed. "Right, guess I should wrap this before it gets worse." The rock she'd moved aside now made a fine seat for attending to medical matters. She popped her medical kit out of her sylladex and set about wrapping a bandage around her head. As she worked, she asked Aradia, "What is this place, anyway? It's gotta have something to do with shadow droppers, knowing you."_

_Aradia giggled. "Oh no, you've figured me out! My professional clouding strategies will be ruined if anyone else knows about this!" Her voice dropped to a low whisper. "Looks like I'll have to get rid of you..._ permanently _."_

_Terezi snorted, storing her medical kit away. "I just defeated your strongest monster, there's not much else you could throw at me." She stored her weapon as well and started to search the room for sweet loot._

_As she looked, Aradia sighed. "There aren't any monsters I could throw at you anymore, true. And you've escaped all my death traps, as well. Guess I'll have to let you go this time." The room started rumbling. "Unless I just drop some rocks on you."_

_Terezi glared upwards, distracted from the treasure hoard in front of her. "That's just rude, even if it is a joke."_

_"True." The rumbling stopped. "So, you done exploring yet? I think you've found all the loot I had in there."_

_"Hm..." Terezi considered the room. It was pretty small, all things considered. She'd searched everywhere she knew Aradia would hide things, and a few other possibilities, but there was always the chance Aradia had learned a new trick or two. Some of those puzzles along her path to this chamber had been almost too difficult even for her skills, after all, so Aradia was clearly getting more devious. It had been a long session, though, and she'd already found some cool artifacts, so she said, "Yeah, I'm ready to head out."_

_"Cool! I'll meet you when you get outside. Follow this tunnel and you should get out fine. See you in a few!" A nondescript opening blinked a few times. Terezi headed straight for it, excited to meet up with Aradia and gush over their adventure together in person._

* * *

"That wasn't necessary, you know," Terezi grumbled as she dragged an unconscious Dersite down the hall by a leg. She (he? Terezi couldn't tell the difference, if there even was one, and Aradia wouldn't care) had had the misfortune of coming upon the pair as they exited a stairwell. Terezi and the Dersite had frozen, but Aradia had moved instantly, knocking her out before she could move, let alone say anything. That left them with a body to conceal before they could move on, a requirement Terezi didn't appreciate.

Aradia shrugged, the motion hampered by the grip she had on the Dersite's other leg. "Better than getting noticed."

"We could have asked her some questions before knocking her out!" Terezi fired back. "Like where exactly this office we're looking for is, or what kind of security the building has. A good interrogation could have made this a lot easier." _And improved my mood,_ she thought to herself. _Would've been a lot easier to pretend this was just another FLARP campaign._ On the other hand, such a scene wouldn't have been complete without Aradia's sub-par acting on the other side. _Maybe it's better this way - at least I'm not fooling myself._

Aradia didn't say anything in response. A closet was found, filled with cleaning supplies and a bucket that Terezi chose to ignore. If this had been the old Aradia, there would have been jokes galore, but there was no point in playing to a deaf audience. Terezi smirked as she closed the door. _The blind playing to the deaf - that's a joke so bad even Gamzee wouldn't laugh._

The pair looked around on their current floor, but much like those they'd already passed, their target was nowhere to be found. "Awesome," Terezi grumbled. She gripped her cane tightly as they walked up the stairs, too frustrated to put it away just yet.

When they reached the next floor, Terezi gave the hallway a deep sniff before stepping out of the stairwell. Aradia stayed just behind her, like some loyal lowblood servant. The thought made her sick. "Why'd you invite yourself along on this, anyway?" Terezi asked, trying to distract herself from her rotten mood.

She hadn't really expected an answer, considering how often she'd been shut down before, but Aradia surprised her by saying, "Something bad happened when you came here by yourself. I came back from the future to make sure everything goes as it should." Her tone was as even as ever - Terezi was starting to wonder if her robot body was even capable of anything but a monotone. "When we arrive at the office, I'll also need to leave something there. It will play a crucial part in four nights' time."

"Oh." Terezi hadn't been expecting her reason to be so... simple. "So... you're from the future?" That explained the weird objects she'd had when arriving on LOTAF. "And you came back to clean up my mess?"

Aradia shrugged a little. "You could put it that way, yes."

Her nonchalant voice just made the punch to Terezi's bloodpusher even worse. "So I fucked up that badly, huh? And here I thought Karkat was being a whiny shit for nothing, but I guess we really are just destined to fuck up everything about this game!"

"You shouldn't yell," Aradia said.

Terezi scoffed. "Thanks, don't know how I could have survived this supremely dangerous mission without you and your excellent advice! It's good to know your helpful attitude hasn't changed, unlike everything else about you." Immediately after saying that, Terezi regretted opening her mouth, but there was nothing she could do. She wasn't a Time player, after all. She was just a Mind player, and a pretty shitty one at that.

Before she could figure out how to fix the situation, a trio of hulking Dersites came crashing around the corner. She raised her cane, loosening the three sections in preparation. She smelled Aradia surging forward to meet two of the Dersites head-on before the last one came swinging at her. She parried his punch, then swung her cane around her head and delivered a solid strike to its head with the end opposite of the spear head. The Dersite staggered into a wall, bounced off, and tackled her into the opposite wall. "Oof!" Terezi exhaled sharply as her back hit the wall. For a frazzled moment, she was impressed by the strength of the building's walls.

She came back to her senses as she and her assailant slumped to the floor. Before it could strike her again, Terezi pulled her cane apart and wrapped it around the Dersite's neck. Using that as leverage, she pushed it aside and squeezed out from against the wall. She got to her feet and pulled her cane together to swing at the Dersite's head again. This time, its head bounced off the wall and it fell against the wall, knocked unconscious.

 _One down._ She focused now on Aradia's end of the hallway. She seemed to be trading blows with both her opponents. Terezi couldn't feel if her psychic abilities were in play - intangible energies were always more difficult for her to smell. Two-on-one were still bad odds either way, especially since Aradia seemed to be backing herself against the window. Terezi waited for an opening, then jumped into the fray.

She stabbed her spear into a Dersite's core just as it staggered back from one of Aradia's blows. Unfazed by the wound in its side, it swung a counter punch at her. She ducked under the wild swing and swept its legs out. It crashed heavily to the ground. Terezi raised her cane high, ready to swing it down on the Dersite's head, but she was shoved aside by the last Dersite. She stumbled toward the window, tripping over her feet a few times before she could regain her footing.

When she had her balance back, Aradia was slamming one of their opponents into the wall. Her face was pulled back into a vicious snarl, a savage expression that would have terrified Terezi if she were on the wrong side of it. Here, though, it galvanized her, and she let her own face twist into a cruel grin. The Aradia in front of her wasn't exactly like the Aradia she'd known growing up, but there was something in her face that brought Terezi back to their FLARPing campaigns. She could almost pretend they were four sweeps old again.

Aradia's opponent pushed her to the ground, and their fight dissolved into a wrestling match. Terezi stepped towards them, intent on doing a little equalizing, but her formerly downed opponent got back on its feet and blocked her way. "Oh? Ready for another round?" She set herself in a neutral stance, ready to react to whatever the Dersite would throw at her.

It came rushing at her, reaching out to grab her in its giant hands. She jumped back, stopping just short of the windowed wall behind her, and wrapped her cane around its hands. "The court finds your violent outbreak to be a complete disgrace!" she quipped. She tried to punch it in the face with her free hand while its hands were occupied, but the Dersite just lifted its arms in the air. Given that she was still holding her cane together, she was lifted off the ground, as well. The Dersite scowled at her; she answered with a wink and released her cane. She dropped back to the ground, and her cane fell back into her outstretched hand. Reassembling it, she jabbed her opponent in the gut again. As it doubled over, she thrust the butt end of the cane upward to meet its face with double the force.

The Dersite fell backward, her combined strikes enough to take it down. Terezi leaned carefully on her cane and readjusted her glasses. "Legislacerator Redglare rests her case," she said with a vicious grin. Then, she frowned. "You couldn't even see that awesome wink earlier, could you? Ugh!" she exclaimed. "A perfectly good bit wasted on an unappreciative foe."

Any further grandstanding on her part was interrupted by the last Dersite flying past her, crashing through the window just behind her. "Shit!" She brought her cane up reflexively. "Aradia! Try some warning next time you start throwing people around!"

The other girl shrugged. "I was expecting it to be heavier."

"Hm. Yeah, okay. Try shouting or something, though, just to give me a heads-up." Terezi moved to the window to get a quick sniff of fresh air. "So your psychic stuff is as strong as ever, huh? Not hampered by the whole metal body thing?"

For a moment, Terezi felt Aradia's power flare, even though she was standing several paces away. It died down almost as soon as it started, and Aradia simply said, "... I suppose that's true. My powers are still the same." Her face was still blank, but somehow Terezi could smell something familiar in her eyes. There was a wistfulness there, something Terezi had only seen in the old Aradia a few times, but was all the more memorable for its rarity.

Terezi chewed her lip, suddenly unsure again of what to do. This was an Aradia almost familiar to her, and yet completely alien. Memories of a younger time flooded her head, when successful FLARP games turned to late-day conversations and Aradia slipped from her usual overly cheerful persona into something more sedate and otherwordly. Now, as then, Terezi found her tongue stuck in her mouth, unable to think of what to say to this person she could barely understand.

Her dilemma was solved in an unexpected way - she was grabbed from behind by the Dersite Aradia had thrown through the window. Terezi was pulled backwards through that same window before she could do anything but yell in shock. Outside, she could smell the dark expanse of the Furthest Ring above and the grape landscape of Derse below. She grabbed the hand holding onto her, negating the chance her captor could just drop her to the streets below - and just in time, as it released her a moment later. She climbed up the Dersite's body towards the window. It tried to grab her again, but Aradia appeared above and smashed its grip on the window frame.

The Dersite fell free of the building, and Terezi almost went with it. She jumped, using its body as a springboard, and reached for the window with all her strength. Aradia reached out to her, grasping her hand just when it looked like she would fall short. Her body slammed into the building, shocking her into letting go. Aradia kept a strong grip on her, though, keeping her from falling any further.

"Terezi! Are you okay?" Aradia looked down at her in concern. Terezi almost couldn't believe her nose. As she looked up, she remembered...

* * *

_Terezi sauntered down the tunnel, her mind full of plans for all the loot she'd gathered. Up ahead, she saw the low glow of moonslight._ Finally! _She jogged toward the exit, excited to meet up with her friend._

_As she reached the tunnel mouth, she saw Aradia silhouetted against the sky. "Aradia! Hey!" Terezi called out, waving her arm._

_Aradia smiled and raised her hand as well, but a loud booming noise within the mountain turned her expression to a frown. A moment later, she shouted, "Terezi, run! There's something wrong with the mountain!"_

_As she shouted her warning, the floor underneath Terezi shifted violently. She was thrown to the ground, and parts of the walls began sliding around her. She pushed herself forward to avoid getting trapped by the ceiling falling on top of her. She ran for the exit as fast as possible, squeezing past the new walls towards the patch of moonslight still just barely visible._

_She made it outside before the tunnel fully collapsed, running straight into Aradia's concerned arms. "You made it!" Aradia pulled her close into a grateful hug._

_Terezi squeezed her back. "That wasn't part of your plan, right? Because I thought you were kidding about the whole dropping rocks thing."_

_Aradia shook her head. "No, that was not supposed to happen at all. I'm so sorry, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have messed around with -"_

_"Hey, no harm done. I just got to do a little surprise adventuring. Nothing I couldn't handle." She pulled out of the hug and squeezed Aradia's hand. "I am very ready to stop adventuring now, though. Also you owe me some serious sweets."_

_Aradia laughed. "That's a bargain I can accept."_

_Terezi grinned, but as she turned toward the path down the mountain, the ground crumbled beneath her. "Aaaaaaah!" she screamed as she slipped down the mountainside. Her fall was stopped short as Aradia's grip on her hand tightened. She nearly fell down the mountainside herself, but she managed to stay on the relatively firm ground outside the tunnel. "Terezi! Are you okay?"_

_"I could be a lot better!" Terezi yelled back._

_Aradia laughed as her power spread down her arm and across Terezi's. "Hold on, I'll get us down without any more mishaps."_

_Terezi nodded, letting Aradia's power wrap around her. Soon, she and Aradia were floating to level ground. Aradia set Terezi down gently before landing herself. "That's much better," Terezi said, shaking out her legs. Whenever Aradia used her powers on Terezi (a pretty rare occurrence), she always felt little residual shocks running through her body afterwards._

_"Yup! Definitely much better down here," Aradia said with a smile on her face. That smile became a thoughtful look as she said, "That mountain slide could have uncovered some new chambers, though..."_

_Terezi groaned. "You can go on one of your archaeology runs later, when we're less likely to get caught by sunlight. And when I've not just almost died twice."_

_Aradia sighed. "Oh, alright then. Let's get back to my place. You have some treasure to sort through, after all."_

_"Now that is something I can look forward to!" Terezi cackled as they began the short journey to Aradia's hive._

* * *

Terezi came back to the present as Aradia's power started crawling over here. She relaxed as the almost-forgotten sensation pulled her up into safety. Once she was standing under her own power again, Aradia pulled her power back into herself.

"Thanks," Terezi said softly.

"You're welcome," Aradia replied.

Silence fell between them. After a few moments, Aradia turned and started walking down an unexplored hallway. Terezi took a moment to collect herself before catching up.

They searched the floor quickly - Terezi was not looking forward to any more fights until she was back on the ground floor again. In one corner, she finally found the office they were supposed to be infiltrating. "Aradia! It's over here!" she called out before examining the door. Like most others they'd tried, it was locked.

Aradia came up behind her. "You're sure it's this one?"

"Yeah, that's the symbol I was told to look for," Terezi said as she pointed at the wall beside the door. A set of straight and curved lines was painted beside the door. She straightened her back and gestured grandly. "After you!"

Aradia raised an eyebrow. "You're not even going to try picking the lock?"

"Nope!" Terezi chirped. "I'd be surprised if there wasn't a whole army of goons coming up here after the noise we made fighting those guys. Let's get in, do what we came here to do, and get out."

"Mm." Aradia stepped forward. In seconds, the door was gone. Terezi stepped through the doorway and breathed in deeply. The office was very boring - dark shades of purple everywhere, nothing bright or exciting at all. There was a desk against the wall across from the door, and a couple of bookcases around the room. She sat at the desk and started rifling through the drawers, while Aradia placed something on a bookshelf. "Is that your part of the mission?" Terezi asked.

Aradia nodded. "Once you've found the document, we'll be done here."

"Cool, then we can fly out of here," Terezi replied as she opened file after file, trying to find the one with the marks she needed. It took a few minutes for her to realize what she'd just said. "... Wait. I have rocket wings. I could've just flown back up the building." She groaned and held her head in her hands. "I am definitely the biggest idiot that has ever existed in the history of Alternia."

Aradia looked troubled. "Actually, I'd forgotten you could fly, as well. You didn't need me after all."

Terezi lifted her head. "I'm not being ungrateful, if that's what you're thinking! I appreciate you saving my life, really. Even if it wasn't necessary." She gave Aradia a small smile. "Felt just like old times."

Aradia opened her mouth, then hesitated, as if she was wrestling with what to say. Terezi gave her a little time, then returned to document shuffling. She finally found the important one near the back end of a drawer. "There!" Terezi brandished the file over her head triumphantly. "Now we can get back to the actual game!"

Aradia nodded absently. "That's good..." She still seemed troubled to Terezi, like she was struggling to say something important. Finally, she asked, "Do you think you can find your way back to your planet by yourself?"

Terezi frowned in consideration. "Hm... I should be able to make it to _somebody's_ planet, at least. Are you going somewhere else now?"

"My job here is done," she said quietly. "The timeline requires I leave once my task is complete."

"Oh, right." With the fight distracting her, Terezi had almost forgotten this Aradia was from the future. "I guess you'll be going back to your own time, then?"

"... Something like that." Aradia sounded... weird. Terezi couldn't really place her tone - it almost seemed like sadness, but it was missing something. As she tried to figure it out, Aradia pulled out the odd objects she'd been holding earlier. Now that she got a better whiff of them, Terezi could tell they were crystalline music boxes. "I've stayed too long as it is, I think. I should go, before..." Aradia trailed off, like she wasn't sure how to end that sentence, or if she even should.

Terezi walked out from behind the desk. "Well, when you get to whenever you're going, I hope you get to rest a bit. I know I plan on taking a nap once I get out of here!" She forced a little cheer into her voice, even though her bloodpusher was now heavy with worry.

For the first time since arriving on Terezi's planet, Aradia smiled. "Thank you, Terezi. I'm... I'm glad I needed to come here." She set her music boxes in motion. "Goodbye."

In a flash of white, she was gone, and Terezi was alone. She waited a moment, as if Aradia would be coming back. Eventually, though, she went back to the hallway and jumped out a window, flying into the sky.

* * *

Much later, Terezi watched the humans joke around with the other trolls. _I can't believe they're here,_ she thought, still trying to process everything that had just happened. _And that we're going to spend the next sweep and a half with them._

At the edge of her focus, she smelled a delicious cherry red blur moving away from the rest of the group. She quickly walked over and said, "Sneaking away while we're all distracted, Aradia?"

Aradia turned in the air and smiled down at her. "Hi, Terezi! Guess we can't pull the wool over your eyes, huh?" Behind her, Sollux snorted.

Terezi cackled. "You could, but it wouldn't do you any good unless you stuffed it up my nose, too!" Her manic grin smoothed out as she tried to think of what to say. "You know, I never asked before, when we were on the meteor, but... did you - I mean, after that last battle with all the... robot yous running around, did you... um..." She trailed off, unable to ask what she really wanted to know.

Aradia gestured at Sollux, who floated away after grumbling at her a bit. When he was far enough away, she landed and pulled Terezi into a strong hug. "She really liked being on that mission with you. Thank you."

Terezi froze for a moment, then wrapped her arms around Aradia. "I'll miss you," she whispered into Aradia's ear.

"Not for long," Aradia replied. "I'll see you in the dreambubbles, after all." She didn't let go of Terezi, though, holding her close for a few more minutes before pulling back. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

Terezi smiled, a little sadly. "I always do, don't I?"

Aradia laughed lightly and floated back into the sky. She rejoined Sollux, and soon the pair floated into the vast black surrounding the meteor.

When she couldn't smell even a speck of cherry red, Terezi turned back to the group, ready to start their journey.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Subterfuge (The Tapestry Thread Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7577449) by [runobody2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runobody2/pseuds/runobody2)




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